Arizona added more than 107,600 net new residents over the past year, topping the 7 million population mark for the first time, according to the latest government estimate.

Arizona also tied for the fifth-fastest growing state, gaining population at a rate of 1.6 percent. The total resident count grew to 7.02 million residents in 2017 from 6.91 million in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which tracked changes from July 1 to July 1 both years.

Idaho was the nation’s fastest-growing state, increasing at a rate of 2.2 percent. Nevada was next, followed by Utah, Washington and then Arizona, which tied with Florida.

The U.S. population rose to 325.7 million as of mid-2017, up 2.3 million residents for the year.

California remained the nation's most populous state with 39.54 million residents, followed by Texas, Florida, New York and Pennsylvania.

Arizona's increase of 107,600 residents was the seventh-biggest numeric change. Texas, with 399,700 net new residents, led in this measure.

Arizona ranked 14th in total population both this year and last. Washington, with 7.41 million residents, is the state just ahead of Arizona.

Eight states lost population over the year, led by a drop of 1 percent in Wyoming, though Illinois had the biggest numeric decrease — a decline of 33,700 net residents.

Metro Phoenix ranks 9th most unaffordable cities for renters nationally, according to a SmartAsset study. The average metro Phoenix renter must use more than a week-and-a-half of their pay to afford a typical one-bedroom apartment.
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Arizona improved in prosperity over the past year but still ranked among the bottom third of states in health care, jobs and family finances, according to a survey from Prosperity Now.
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Laveen's 85339 ZIP code ranked No. 11 on Attom Data Solutions' list of the top 25 best U.S. communities for investors to make moneybuying homes and turning them into rentals. Four other Valley ZIP codes made the list: Queen Creek's 85143 ranked No. 13; El Mirage's 85335 was No. 20; south Phoenix's 85043 was No. 21; and Maricopa's 85319 was No. 25.
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Thrillist’s September 2017 article headlined “The flat-out ugliest state capitols in the country” ranks Arizona No. 1, ahead of New Mexico, Alaska, North Carolina and North Dakota. But Thrillist in its article displays the state's Executive Tower, not the original Arizona state Capitol (show here).
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Chandler ranked the best city to buy a home big enough to raise a family, according to an October 2017 data analysis from SmartAsset. Gilbert came in No. 3 with Scottsdale following at No. 8. The same three cities also ranked among the top 10 most prosperous U.S. cities, according to a 2017 report from the Economic Innovation Group.
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Gilbert was recently listed one of the safest cities in the nation to raise a child. The city cracked the top 30 in a child-safety ranking by SafeWise, a research-aggregating home securitywebsite. The list spotlighted cities of more than 10,000 residents and aggregated sex offender concentration, state graduation rates, overall school quality and FBI violent crime data. They also considered parks and recreational opportunities and activities for children and families.
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Scottsdale came in third place overall for the healthiest city in the country, according to Wallethub, a financial-services website that regularly analyzes topics for national comparison. The 2017 ranking compared 150 of the most populated cities across the country, focusing on four key sectors — health care, food, fitness and green space. Scottsdale received high marks in the fitness category, which took into account the number of weight-loss centers, fitness clubs and recreation leagues per capita.
Tempe made the top 20, snagging the 11th spot.
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Arizona is (nearly) the best in the nation for at least one thing — putting women in charge. Representation 20/20 in June 2017 released its 2017 Gender Parity Index. Arizona won the bronze medal. The index ranked the Grand Canyon State third in the nation behind New Hampshire and Washington for gender parity. States are evaluated based on the number of women in the U.S. Congress, statewide office, the state legislature and mayoral positions.
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Arizona ranked No. 9in the nation formoney lost from cyber crimes in 2015, according to a reportcompiled by the FBI'sInternet Crime Complaint Center and released in June 2017. Arizonans lost $8.9 millionfrom those internet crimes.
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Children play on the playground at Wilson Elementary School in Phoenix. Arizona finished 46th out of the 50 states in a survey that looked at factors ranging from the percentage of kids living in poverty, to the teen birthrate to access to health care, the Annie E. Casey Foundation survey on child well-being reported Tuesday, June 13, 2017.
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Hemanth Yalahanka works on his final presentation during class at Basis Scottsdale on April 25, 2017. The charter school was named the best high school in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report. Four of the other top-10 schools were also Basis charter schools in Arizona.
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Phoenix residents, as a whole, have some of the worst credit in the nation among cities with a population of 300,000 or more, according to a WalletHub survey released March 7, 2017. The average score of 641 lands in the 14th percentile. Sun City West residents, meanwhile, shine in the 99th percentile with an average of 756.
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WalletHub released its rankings of the best places to be on Valentine's Day 2017, based on romance and budget-friendliness. Scottsdale came in at No. 2, and Chandler was No. 14. Five other Arizona cities made the list: Mesa, 51; Gilbert, 59; Phoenix, 62; Tucson, 77; and Glendale, 88.
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Financial-services website WalletHub released their "2017’s Best Places to Get Married" list ranking 150 of the country's biggest cities.
Scottsdale, with locations such as the Venue Scottsdale, came in highest at No. 6 thanks in large part to its numerous attractions and activities. Among Arizona cities, Tucson followed at No. 15 and Tempe was No. 20, planting them firmly among the best in the United States and proving that college towns can double as classy wedding spots.
The Venue Scottsdale/Scottsdale Wedding Walk

Arizona might be emerging as a hot destination for newcomers, according to a new survey that tracks state-to-state migration patterns. The annual report by United Van Lines places Arizona as the 10th-highest state for attracting people moving from other states during 2016. Arizona didn't crack the top 10 in the 2015 survey.
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All three of Arizona's public universities made Military Times' most recent "Best for Vets" list. Arizona State University was ranked No. 66, the University of Arizona was 74 and Northern Arizona University was 79.
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High school graduation rates reached an all-time high of 83 percent last year, but Arizona still lagged behind the nation at 77 percent in the 2014-2015 school year, the White House said. The overall graduation rate in Arizona peaked at 78 percent in the 2010 -2011 school year, before dropping two points the following year. Despite incremental improvement, the overall state graduation rate is still 6 percentage points behind the national average.
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The University of Arizona ranked No. 63 on Reuters Top 100: The World's Most Innovative Universities list released Sept. 28, 2016. The rankings were based in part on universities doing the most to advance science and invent technologies.
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Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the adult smoking rate in Arizona has dropped to 14 percent. The decrease translates to more than 200,000 Arizonans who quit smoking over the last five years.
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A 2016 study by personal-finance site Wallet Hub ranked Arizona No. 1 in criminal penalties for driving under the influence and No. 2 in DUI prevention efforts among the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
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Arizona finished 46th overall in an August 2016 WalletHub report ranking the 50 states and the District of Columbia on child welfare. Arizona scored a 45 in the category of "early foundations and economic well-being"; a 41 in children's health; and a 43 in children's education. New Hampshire, New Jersey and Utah took the top spots overall in child welfare; the four states that ranked below Arizona were Georgia, New Mexico, Louisiana and Mississippi. In last place was the District of Columbia.
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Arizona is the sixth-most difficult state in which to find full-time work, according to an August 2016 survey by 24/7 Wall St. The survey cites the state's underemployment as one of reasons. It stands at 9.9 percent, nearly twice the state's unemployment rate.
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Livability, which for 28 years has researched small to mid-size communities and published lists ranking them on various factors, says Tempe is the best college town in the United States in 2016. Tempe also ranked No. 7 on the site's list of Top 10 Downtowns and No. 34 on its 50 Best Cities for Entrepreneurs this year.
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Arizona received a failing grade for its policies to help expecting and new parents, a national report card found. In August 2016, the “Expecting Better” released that Arizona only met the minimum federal standards under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The state also received the same grade in the 2014 report, when it was one of 17 states that failed.
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The Arizona Cardinals made the Forbes 2016 list of the top 50 sports teams globally. The team is worth an estimated $1.54 billion, according to Forbes, although that's below the NFL average of $2 billion.
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Arizona's sales-tax rate ranked as the 11th-highest in the nation in July 2016, a national analysis of state and local tax systems found. In 2015, the Tax Foundation ranked Arizona 24th in the nation for its overall tax climate. Arizona has one of the highest sales tax rates in the nation, when combining state and local charges.
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A February 2016 report from Network for Public Education gave Arizona an F grade in education, while the country averaged a D. Arizona's policy on high-stakes testing was a high point of the report, but it got F’s for school finance, professionalization of teaching and privatization.
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A November 2015 report found that only 63 percent of Arizona's school districts provide the federal standard for broadband connection of 100 kilobytes per second per student. That percentage falls far short of states like New York and South Carolina — where almost all schools meet the federal standard for high-speed Internet access.
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"Bad apple" drug dealers are the 5 percent of dealers who sold almost 90 percent of the traceable guns later used in crimes across the U.S., a report by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence says. The report also also ranks Arizona as the fifth-largest exporter of guns found at crime scenes in other states in 2013.
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Gilbert has the highest median income in the country, making it the top city for "wallet wellness," according to a 2015 national financial-responsibility ranking of 150 U.S. cities.
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Arizona ranked 17th nationwide in energy efficiency, according to a 2015 report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Phoenix made improvements in energy efficiency, with program encouraging the use of low-energy lightbulbs for example, but not enough to keep from falling in a national ranking of cities.
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Arizona State University was named the most innovative school among national universities by U.S. News & World Report in September 2017 for the third year in a row. ASU President Michael Crow has pushed innovation and entrepreneurship as one of the core tenets of his vision for the university.
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Culinary enthusiasts in Scottsdale can take pride, as their city was named the second-best city for "foodies" in the U.S., according to a survey released in June 2014. The top-10 list from Livability.com, a website that analyzes the nation's most livable small to mid-sized cities, put Scottsdale just behind New Haven, Connecticut, as a home for creative cuisine.
Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau

According to data gathered by mobile app "Hot or Not" in June 2014, Scottsdale has some of the most attractive people in the country. Women came in at fourth and men at ninth. Chandler also made the cut at ninth for the most attractive women in the country.
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Glassdoor, an employment website that helps job hunters find work and reviews of workplaces, has weighed in with its latest ranking of what purports to be the 50 largest metro areas sorted by employee satisfaction.
Phoenix ranked 46th, which means workers here aren't happy, though perhaps they should be glad they aren't in Pittsburgh, which came in last. The June 2014 list is based on employee feedback over the past year for overall satisfaction, compensation and benefits, career opportunities, the business outlook and job openings.
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Scottsdale parents have chosen the best city in the country to raise their children, according to the online-identity services website MyLife.com in a June 2014 report. That is, if parents are basing their choice on the same criteria as the website. MyLife compared the country's 100 most-populous cities and determined the ranking using specific criteria: Average family income; cost of living; crime rate; quality of public schools; and the number of public parks per capita.
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A June 2014 report ranks Phoenix eighth in the country for cities with the largest number of gay-friendly businesses. Global media organization Vocativ released a report this week in celebration of gay pride month. The study includes different lists ranking the nation's best cities for gay businesses, gay sports leagues and gay politicians.
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Arizona is the 10th most stressed-out state, according to a June 2014 list from Movoto, a real estate blog. To compile the list, Movoto looked at six criteria that reflect root causes of stress: commute times, unemployment, hours worked, population density, percentage of income spent on housing and percentage of population without health insurance.
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Arizona is the 16th best state for retirement, according to a report released by Bankrate.com in May 2014. The states were scored on crime, weather, health care quality, tax rates, cost of living and well-being.
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WalletHub compared the 150 largest communities in the U.S. and recognized Gilbert for its affordability, socio-economic demographics and education by ranking it the ninth in the country for families. Other Valley communities named in WalletHub's June 2014 list of best cities for families include Scottsdale (28), Chandler (29), Peoria (32), Mesa (76), Glendale (92), Phoenix (93) and Tempe (108).
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A consumer-advocacy website in April 2015 named Buckeye the sixth-best location in Arizona for home ownership based on population growth, availability and affordability.
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More homes were flipped in Maricopa County than any other U.S. county, according to a new report by RealtyTrac. The report said that 4,632 houses were flipped in the Valley between April 2013 and March 2014. The average original purchase price of the houses was $172,547, and the average flipped price was $226,761.
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Gilbert ranked 93 out of 100 of America's worst places for a "staycation" in 2014, not because of the hot summer weather but due to a lack of recreational activities, according to financial website WalletHub.
WalletHub's rankings were based on an analysis of 20 metrics falling into four main categories: recreational activities, food and entertainment, rest and relaxation and weather.
Report issued June 2014
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Gallup conducted a poll with at least 600 residents from each state from June to December in 2013 that asked residents if they had donated money to charity or volunteered time to an organization in the past month.
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Arizona seniors ranked among the bottom third of states for measures such as diabetes management and frequency of hospital intensive care use, according to United Health Foundation's America's May 2014 Health Rankings for those 65 and older.
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Tempe - it's not just for college kids and retirees anymore. A growing number of Millennials are moving in and putting this college town in the national spotlight, according to a May 2014 report.
In the past week, Tempe has ranked among the top 20 places to live in the U.S. for people in their 20s and 30s.
Report issued April 2014
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Both Arizona and the Valley ranked among the top 10 spots in the nation where pedestrians are likely to be hit and killed by a vehicle, according to a 2014 study from a Washington, D.C.-based group that touts its focus on building smarter communities
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The American Lung Association's annual air-quality report ranked Phoenix as the eighth-most-polluted metropolitan region in 2014 as measured by year-round particle emissions. That bucks consecutive reports that showed improving air-quality rankings for Phoenix, which was No. 18 in 2013, No. 7 in 2012 and No. 2 in 2011.
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Danielle Reynolds of Gilbert was ranked as the top female compound youth archer in the United States in 2014. The 17-year-old isn't resting on her laurels. She aims to become No. 1 on the U.S. archery team, a broader category of archery that includes adults, in 2015.
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Travel site 10Best.com in 2014 recognized a Phoenix museum as one of the 10 best museums for families.
The Musical Instrument Museum, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd., ranked fourth in a national list of family-friendly museums, and was the only Arizona museum nominated in the 10Best Readers' Choice contest.
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"The Facts Hurt: A State-by State Injury Prevention Policy Report" said injury remained the leading cause of death for Americans ages 1 to 44. Arizona had the nation's 12th-highest rate of deaths from injuries from 2011 to 2013, and drug-related injuries accounted for the largest number of those deaths, the 2015 report says.
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Scottsdale, Peoria among top 10 retirement spots: Financial website WalletHub released a 2015 study, determining that Scottsdale and Peoria are among the top 10 spots to retire in the country, based on criteria such as cost of living, weather and hospitals. Mesa wasn’t far behind, coming in 21st.
Scottsdale came in second place behind Tampa, Fla., in the research that looked at the “retirement-friendliness” of America’s 150 largest cities. Peoria ranked 10th.
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A 2014 report said that Arizona had the tenth-highest percentage of uninsured Hispanic children in the nation and the third-highest among states with the largest numbers of Hispanic children.
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Seventy-three guns were found in carry-on bags in Phoenix's airport in 2015. Phoenix placed fifth in the nation for most gun discoveries in airports, according to the Transportation Security Administration.
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Fine artists in Arizona on average make more money annually than artists in any other state, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. | Curt Mattson said he focuses on art that defines the relationship between humans and horses. He’s showing his work at the Scottsdale Celebration of Fine Art.
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Arizona State University's online bachelor's-degree programs ranked No. 4 in the country in January of 2017, based on an online ranking by U.S. News and World Report. In the same report, University of Arizona ranked No. 81, University of Phoenix placed No. 193 and Northern Arizona University came in at No. 226. The report evaluated 300 schools.
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Northern Arizona University's humble home of Flagstaff was ranked one of the best college towns in the nation, trailing behind Boulder, Colo. (University of Colorado) and Champaign-Urbana, Ill. (University of Illinois) in a study by the American Institute of Economic Research. The study revealed Flagstaff's laid back atmosphere, which earned the town high marks in diversity, city access and bars and restaurants.
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Scottsdale was ranked the No. 1 city for jobs across the United States, according to WalletHub’s 2017 survey. More than 20 percent of Arizona’s corporate headquarters are in Scottsdale. Chandler, Tempe, Peoria and Gilbert also ranked within the top 20 on the list.
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Phoenix, the 9th largest city in the nation, ranked just 44th of the nation's 100 largest cities as an attractive place, according to U.S. News & World Report. Phoenix's net migration boosted the city's overall score, but was hurt by quality-of-life measures. Tucson was the only other Arizona city to make the list, placing 62nd.
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